New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is criticizing President Donald Trump‘s Oval Office speech addressing the coronavirus.
On Wednesday night during his speech, Trump announced the suspension of travel from Europe for the next 30 days. While discussing that order, he labeled the coronavirus as a “foreign virus,” which garnered mixed reactions.
After the speech aired, Cuomo appeared on CNN for an interview with his brother, Chris Cuomo.
The Democratic governor expressed concerns about Trump’s focus on the virus being an overseas epidemic despite the number of cases continuing to rise in the United States.
“This is not about a foreign virus — whatever that means. It’s here,” Andrew Cuomo said, adding, “It’s community spread. It is much more prevalent than we know.”
The New York governor went on to share his thoughts on the statistics surrounding the coronavirus cases in the United States. Due to the country’s limited testing capacity, he believes there is no way to ensure accurate statistics. In fact, he even speculated numbers may already be higher than reported.
“It is because we have no testing capacity. That is why the numbers are low. If you actually had testing capacity, you would see how high the numbers are already. And as we do ramp up testing, you’re going to see those numbers go sky high. And if you don’t have the American people ready for, it’s going to be a problem.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Check out Cuomo’s remarks below:
Cuomo also sheds light on the overseas statistics in comparison to the United States.
He argued that the numbers are much higher overseas because they are conducting hundreds of thousands of tests daily whereas the U.S. has only reportedly conducted less than 10,000 tests nationwide. Compared to other countries, the U.S. is “far behind,” as previously reported on IJR.
According to Business Insider, as of the first week in March, less than 6,000 tests have been administered in the United States despite the number of reported cases increasing.